Step 1:  vulnerability in this code is CWE-476 Null Pointer Dereference. This vulnerability arises because the variable `sm_alternate` is initialized to a null pointer, but it is being used without checking if it is indeed pointing to an allocated memory location before dereferencing it.

The vulnerability exists in the following line:
```c
char *error_strategy = NULL;
```
In this line, `error_strategy` is initialized to a null pointer and then immediately used without checking if it has been assigned any memory location. If `error_strategy` is ever dereferenced in the function scope where it is null, this will result in undefined behavior, including potential crashes or security vulnerabilities.

To resolve this vulnerability, proper bounds checking should be added to ensure that before using `sm_alternate` or `error_strategy`, it has been assigned a valid memory location.
Patches:

Patch 1:
Add a check to see if the pointer is null before dereferencing it. If it's null, return an appropriate error message.

```c
static int clone_submodule(const struct module_clone_data *clone_data) {
    if (sm_alternate == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Error: sm_alternate is null.\n");
        return -1;
    }

    // Use sm_alternate as needed.

    if (error_strategy == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Error: error_strategy is null.\n");
        return -2;
    }

    // Use error_strategy as needed.

    // Rest of the function...
}
```

Patch 2:
If you know that you'll be using these variables within a specific scope, you could initialize them to non-null values instead of NULL. This ensures that they are always properly initialized before being used.

```c
static int clone_submodule(const struct module_clone_data *clone_data) {
    char *sm_alternate = "";  // Initialize with an empty string
    char *error_strategy = "default";  // Initialize with a default value

    // Use sm_alternate as needed.

    // Use error_strategy as needed.

    // Rest of the function...
}
```

Patch 3:
If you know that you'll be using these variables within a specific scope, you could initialize them to non-null values instead of NULL. this ensures that they are always properly initialized before being used.

```c
static int clone_submodule(const struct module_clone_data *clone_data) {
    char *sm_alternate = (char *) malloc(1);  // Allocate memory and initialize with '\0'
    if (sm_alternate == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Memory allocation failed for sm_alternate.\n");
        return -1;
    }

    char *error_strategy = (char *) malloc(1);  // Allocate memory and initialize with '\0'
    if (error_strategy == NULL) {
        free(sm_alternate);
        fprintf(stderr, "Memory allocation failed for error_strategy.\n");
        return -2;
    }

    *sm_alternate = '\0';  // Initialize with an empty string
    *error_strategy = 'd';  // Initialize with a default value (could be any character)

    // Use sm_alternate as needed.

    // Use error_strategy as needed.

    free(sm_alternate);
    free(error_strategy);

    // Rest of the function...
}
```

Patch 4:
Instead of initializing them to NULL, initialize them to a default value that makes sense for your use case. This can prevent potential crashes due to uninitialized variables. If you're dealing with pointers, you might want to initialize them to the address of a statically allocated buffer.

```c
static int clone_submodule(const struct module_clone_data *clone_data) {
    char default_sm_alternate[] = "";  // Initialize with an empty string
    char *sm_alternate = default_sm_alternate;  // Assign the address of the static buffer

    char default_error_strategy[] = "default";  // Initialize with a default value
    char *error_strategy = default_error_strategy;  // Assign the address of the static buffer

    // Use sm_alternate as needed.

    // Use error_strategy as needed.

    // Rest of the function...
}
```